Azerbaijan not to Attend at CIS Countries’ Education Ministers Meeting

Azerbaijan, Baku / Trend corr. S.Agayeva / Azerbaijan does not attend at the 20th meeting of the Council on cooperation in education sphere by the CIS member-countries started in Yerevan on 25 October, the Azerbaijani Education Minister said.

"Given the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan we will not take part in the meeting is being held in Armenia," the Ministry reported.

The conflict between the two countries of the South Caucasus began in 1988 due to Armenian territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Since 1992, Armenian Armed Forces have occupied 20% of Azerbaijan including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and its seven surrounding districts. In 1994, Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a ceasefire agreement at which time the active hostilities ended. The Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group ( Russia, France, and the US) are currently holding peaceful negotiations.

The 13th conference of Education Ministers of the CIS member-countries is also being held in Yerevan.